smartphones - All posts tagged smartphones

Are you reading this on a smartphone? If so, look up for a second and see how many other people around you are looking at their smartphones. It\’s the screen we look at the most and it\’s only going to become more dominant, according to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers\’s Mary Meeker.

There’s growing speculation that Apple Inc. will roll out iPhones with bigger screens next year, a move that some experts say makes sense given trends in a steadily evolving mobile market.

In fact, Apple may have not choice but do so to stay competitive, some analysts say.

“We believe that screen size is becoming a more important feature to mobile devices given the inherent advantages for media and content consumption,” Piper Jaffray analysts Gene Munster and Douglas Clinton told clients in a note last week. “We believe that screen size is one of the top two factors in consumers opting for Android devices over an Apple device in the US.”

Coming round the bend, it’s Samsung in the lead. As suspected, the handset maker has beaten rivals — are you watching, Apple? — to be the first major manufacturer to launch a smartphone with a curved screen.

BlackBerry may be inching closer to finding a buyer, but the relative dearth of easy candidates seems to have made investors still cautious on the idea – despite the recent share bounce.

Bloomberg

The stock has jumped more than 13% in the last three weeks, since the company announced the formation of a special board committee to evaluate “strategic options” [read: find a buyer]. However, the shares are still more than 20% below their level prior to the company’s disasterous earnings report on June 28. And that does not include the stock’s peak around the $18 mark in January before the formal launch of the new BlackBerry 10 handsets that have since been met with tepid demand.

The report late Wednesday from the Wall Street Journal – which said the company was working to speed up its sales process – has given the stock some juice. But while the timing may be entirely coincidental, it’s worth noting that this particular leak came just one day after the surprise acquisition of Nokia’s handset business by Microsoft – which effectively removed two potential partners from BlackBerry’s shopping list. Among those left, all face either notable business challenges of their own, a potentially hostile regulatory review or the lack of a compelling business to take on a smartphone maker whose fortunes have dimmed considerably.

Microsoft is buying out hardware partner Nokia\’s device and services business, and get access to a rich portfolio of wireless patents, in a deal worth billions of dollars. With the move, Microsoft plans to ensure its mobile software will always have phones to run on, and in turn, make sure all of its Windows software stays relevant. Here\’s a look at the numbers behind the deal.

Microsoft
has struck a $7.2 billion deal to buy Nokia\’s
devices-and-services business, and to license patents from the struggling Finnish smartphone specialist. On Monday, CEO Steve Ballmer sent an email to Microsoft employees to announce and explain the move. This is the full text.

Samsung has introduced the Galaxy S4 Mini, a slimmed-down, cheaper version of its flagship handset, in a bid to spread the Galaxy S4’s success to other parts of the market. This is also an area where it doesn\’t face much competition from Apple, at least not yet.

Amazon.com and Microsoft Corp. may be stepping up their efforts at building their own consumer electronics devices, according to reports Thursday afternoon by the Wall Street Journal.

Amazon is working on its own line of smartphones — including one with a 3D screen, according to the Journal. In a separate story, the Journal said Microsoft is developing plans for a set-top box for television sets, similar to those made by companies like Apple and Roku. Both articles cited unnamed sources, and emphasized that the products are still under development, with no assurances that they will actually come to the market.

Both companies already sell a limited line of devices. Amazon is known for its Kindle e-reader and for its Kindle Fire tablets. Microsoft launched its Surface tablet last year, running on its new Windows 8 operating system.

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